


Brown Eyed Man

by LiterallyThePresident



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Leonard doesn’t have Joanna in this, mention of xenopolycythemia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2019-01-08 21:43:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12262659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiterallyThePresident/pseuds/LiterallyThePresident
Summary: “Hey buddy, you have something to say to me?” he called to him. Spock Prime blinked, but gave no outward sign of surprise or annoyance.“I am simply intrigued.” he replied calmly.“By what?”“Your eyes are brown.”





	Brown Eyed Man

The elder Spock had been staring at him for ten minutes now, and McCoy was starting to get real annoyed by it.

“Hey buddy, you have something to say to me?” he called to him. Spock Prime blinked, but gave no outward sign of surprise or annoyance.

“I am simply intrigued.” he replied calmly.

“By what?”

“Your eyes are brown.” was the cryptic response.

“Very observant.” McCoy said a little testily, “Why is that significant?”

“I am simply unused to it. In my universe, Jim’s eyes were brown, and yours were blue.” Leonard couldn’t help but snort at that image, “The hair is also different. Jim had brown hair, whereas your hair was a lighter shade than yours is now.”

“My dad had blue eyes and blond hair, but I always looked more like my mom.” he shrugged, “I dunno what to tell you, man.”

“How intriguing.” Spock Prime murmured, “Perhaps it is possible that mine and Nero’s intrusion upon this universe caused some shift in who met who, who’s genetics passed down to who.”

“My parents met before Nero showed up.” Leonard pointed out. Spock Prime seemed to think on that for a moment.

“If I may, what color eyes does Joanna have?” he finally asked. Leonard gave him an odd look.

“Who’s Joanna?”

“I apologize.” Spock Prime inclined his head, “In my universe, your daughter is named Joanna. Does she have a different name in this one?” Leonard slowly put down his PADD, something panging in his chest.

“I don’t have a daughter.” he said slowly.

“Oh.” the man seemed genuinely surprised, “I... apologize again, Leonard. I assumed...”

“I always wanted a kid or two, but Pamela didn’t.” he said a little mistily, “I never pushed it because in the end it was her body. Probably for the best, I guess. A kid would’ve really complicated the divorce.”

“I see. Then you did not marry Jocelyn Treadway?” Spock Prime looked as though he was starting to get as uncomfortable with this conversation as Leonard was.

“I married a woman named Pamela Branch.” Leonard shook thoughts of his counterpart’s daughter out of his head, “We still divorced though.”

“Was she as frightful a woman as my Leonard’s ex wife allegedly was?” Spock Prime asked, earning a sharp look.

“Why does everyone assume she was some kind of harpy just because we had a messy divorce?” Leonard scowled, “I wouldn’t have married her if she was, we just drifted apart. We both worked too much, hardly saw each other. It just didn’t work out.”

“... It would seem I am not as good as conversing with you as I am with my Leonard.” Spock Prime said, a hint of some bone-deep sadness in his eyes, “Perhaps I should... let you go. Before I offend you further.”

“Now there’s no need for that, I’m sorry for snapping.” Leonard said with a huff, “I think you’re probably just subconsciously pushing your preconceptions onto me based on your McCoy.”

“I often forget your degree in psychology. You are right, as you so often are.” Spock Prime smiled, earning a snort.

“Wish I could get my Spock to say that.” McCoy grumbled.

“He will.” and the vulcan seemed certain of it, “The bond you two must come to share will force admittances of the other’s skills your entire lives.”

“You’re only saying that because you and I were allegedly buddy-buddy in another life and you can’t imagine it being any other way, hobgoblin.” McCoy groused, catching the vulcan looking at him strangely, “What?”

“Nothing at all, Leonard.” and McCoy recognized the look as one of longing, gone before he could really register it, “It is just that despite the differences, at the heart you are still the cantankerous Georgia doctor I knew and...” he trailed off, and Leonard wasn’t sure he wanted him to finish that sentence

“So it’s true then?” Leonard asked by way of lightening the mood, “Spock and I are really supposed to be friends?”

“You, Jim, and Spock are the greatest triumvirate Starfleet has ever known.” Spock Prime said with no hint of irony, “If everything goes as it should here, you and Jim will become precious to my counterpart in a way words cannot accurately describe.”

“That’s... heavy.” Leonard said, stubbornly ignoring the part of him murmuring that the idea wasn’t an awful one at all.

“I apologize, Leonard.” he said for the millionth time, “It was not my intention to cause discomfort.”

“How about you quit walking on eggshells around me.” Leonard waved his apology away, “Try talking to me like I’m Leonard McCoy and not some funhouse mirror you need to walk carefully around.” Spock Prime actually _chuckled_ , looking at Leonard fondly.

“Understand that to me, you _are_ a funhouse mirror.” he replied, “A strange reflection of the man I knew, but with brown eyes, dark hair, and no daughter.” McCoy suddenly felt bad, like he was an intruder, a reminder to Spock Prime of all that he lost.

“Don’t you have a shuttle to catch or something?” he asked perhaps a little rudely. As if sensing his unease, as if he could read it on McCoy’s face like a well loved, if a little warped book, the old vulcan nodded.

“That I do. But first,” he reached into the pocket of his robes, pulling out a slip of paper and pressing it into Leonard’s palm, “I should not be doing this, but I would spare your Jim and Spock the weeks of pain and anguish we went through if I can.” Suspiciously, McCoy scanned the paper.

“Hemoglobin... prevent the proliferation... thinning of the blood...” his eyes widened as his mind made sense of the formula on the paper, “This... This is the cure for xenopolycythemia!”

“It is good to see your eyes are as keen as ever, doctor.” Spock Prime said, amusement twinkling in his eyes

“Damn it, man, do you know how big this is!?” Leonard exclaimed, “How many lives this could save, who came up with this? Who do we credit for this, how did you even... Why did you have this?”

“Someone I loved dearly was diagnosed with it, and I stopped at nothing to cure them.” was all Spock Prime said. McCoy’s blood went cold.

“Does Jim-?” his heart seized in his throat, but Spock Prime held out a placating hand.

“Not Jim.” he said, “Nor Spock. Someone else whose name I cannot say.”

“Oh thank god.” he said, “Whoever it is, I’ll make sure they get this cure. It is safe for distribution, right? Because I’ll fight tooth and nail to see it distributed regardless of what you or Starfleet say.”

“I see your lack of regard for authority is a universal trait.” Spock Prime said with a quirk of his lips.

“As is your propensity to make smartass comments.” Leonard shot back, excitement buzzing under his skin as he cradled the paper like a precious jewel.

“Why doctor, I’m sure I have no idea what you are referring to.” Spock Prime replied innocently, and a grinning McCoy couldn’t help but take the bait.

“Like hell you don’t you green-blooded-“

At the doorway, Spock listened to the doctor‘s back and forth with his counterpart, a curious feeling of envy welling in his heart.

**Author's Note:**

> More of these fucks


End file.
